Reid all about him

West Ham defender Winston Reid will tackle north London rivals Spurs tomorrow after a colourful journey from New Zealand

Central figure: Reid has flourished at the heart of West Ham’s defence after a false start as a makeshift right-back under Avram Grant (Peter Tarry)

IN 2011 Avram Grant’s reign at West Ham United ended with the double ignominy
of relegation for the club and a P45 for him in the players’ tunnel at Wigan
Athletic’s DW stadium. Perhaps, though, the seeds were sown as early as the
season’s first game at Aston Villa.

Grant had admired Winston Reid, New Zealand’s man-mountain centre-half, in the
2010 World Cup and promptly prised him from Denmark’s Midtjylland to Upton
Park. The new acquisition so impressed Grant that Reid was thrust straight
into the starting line-up. At right-back.

“I’d never played right-back in my life,” he sighs. “What could I do? I’d only
just come into the club so I couldn’t really say anything.” Reid did not
have the happiest of debuts. Ashley Young and Stewart Downing tormented the
22-year-old as Villa won 3-0. The travelling fans wondered “Winston who?”
and “Winston why?” and Reid would not make